Arc'teryx Beta AR Jacket - Women's Review

The Arc'teryx Beta AR is a burly hardshell for all-around mountain use in wet climates. The Beta series emphasizes versatility, as does the AR subcategory for “All Round.” Not surprisingly, this jacket scored high across all categories with few downfalls, becoming one of our favorite hardshell options.

Performance Comparison

Weather Protection

The Beta AR has consistently been one of the top-scoring jackets in this category, year after year. It is highly stormproof due to both the fabric and construction. The body is made of N40d 3L Gore-Tex Pro, which is slightly lighter weight than the fabric used on the arms: N80d 3L Gore-Tex Pro. This shaves ounces while simultaneously improving durability where it counts.

The Beta AR is exceptionally well designed to withstand harsh mountain weather conditions. The hood adjusts easily and seals well around your head or helmet. The collar provides excellent wind protection when you're not wearing the hood. This was not a feature we felt was necessary in a hardshell, and we thought it added a little weight and complexity, but if you climb often in a hardshell and want to keep the wind out whether or not you have your hood up, this might be the perfect design for you. The hood features four Cohaesive cord lock hood adjustment points, accommodating a variety of head, hat and helmet shapes, and the brim and cinching cord around the face help keep rain and snow out of your face and eyes. The back length is relatively long, ensuring good coverage, and has a drawcord at the waist to keep out drafts.

Mobility and Fit

While the Beta is not the lightest or most flexible fabric, it still allows an excellent range of motion, clearly with climbing in mind. The cut of the jacket is generous enough to layer beneath, and the arms are articulated to ensure a good range of motion.

Compared to the other award-winning jackets, this one is a bit stiffer. As such, if you're looking for something that offers a little more burly storm protection and durability yet that still moves well for technical climbing purposes, this might be the right balance for you. Overall, the jacket can feel slightly boxy, with a bit of excess material for most users and most layering systems. But, we did find that the generous fit paid dividends for better movement and the ability to put a down jacket underneath with ease.

Arc'teryx thoughtfully placed the zippered hand pockets high enough to be accessible while wearing a harness. We appreciate that this allows quick access to snacks or navigation tools without slowing down to fiddle with awkward pockets and zippers. Our favorite aspect of Arc'teryx jackets is the way they design the paneling to allow impeccable ease of movement in a type of jacket that otherwise can feel stiff. The Beta AR articulates well in all of the climbing directions we tried, and the hem of the jacket doesn't raise up when you put your hands overhead – a major bonus for continued weather protection while climbing.

Venting and Breathability

The Beta AR uses Gore-Tex Pro, which is the heaviest and most protective of the Gore-Tex fabrics. It is a little thicker and more durable and provides an even more effective barrier from storms—but it will not breathe as easily as some other materials. We found that for activities, the superior waterproofing of this jacket could be a double-edged sword and tends to trap perspiration.

The fabric is still impressive as a waterproof/breathable hardshell material, however, and this jacket features long and easily accessible underarm vents to expel excess heat quickly. You can unzip the underarm vents from either end and make the vent hole big or small depending on how much precipitation is falling or how much heat you need to let escape. However, we found that these vents weren't necessarily the easiest to unzip, especially with gloves, due to the stiffer fabric.

Weight

This jacket weighs much less than its long list of added features and protection might suggest. It has a storm collar, underarm zips, and 3-layer Gore-Tex Pro fabric. However, it still weighs in at a respectable 13.4 ounces, low enough to justify taking along for long mountaineering trips.

This is an obvious choice as an all-around hardshell for many mountain sports, many seasons, many climates, many adventures, and many years.

Features and Design

Arc'teryx keeps it relatively simple with the Beta AR, but didn't leave us wanting for much. They have included features which improve the versatility of the jacket without paying a high price in added weight. The one element we wished this jacket had was a two-way zipper, but found that the hem was for the most part short enough to access our tie-in point with ease.

The pit zips help manage the thicker Gore-Tex Pro fabric, allowing you to use this jacket in warmer climates (or lower on the mountain) without fear of overheating. The collar provides excellent wind protection even when not wearing the hood, making it a reasonable choice for windy climates, with or without rain in the forecast.

The hood has four cinching adjustment points that ensure a proper fit around any head, hat and helmet shape. The hood's highly effective cinch cord and stiffened brim help keep the weather out of your eyes. This jacket features a “regular” fit instead of a trim, athletic fit. This allows you to layer warm clothing underneath, which is a crucial feature of an all-around hardshell—you can adapt more readily to cold, warm, rain, snow, and any odd mixture of all four. This jacket also has exceptional pockets: two high hand pockets, easily accessible while wearing a harness, and an internal zippered chest pocket, which is a little small for some of today's massive smartphones, but excellent.

Should You Buy the Arc'teryx Beta AR?

The Beta AR is an excellent all-around hardshell. Beyond our positive perceptions of this particular jacket, you can have additional peace of mind knowing that Arc'teryx stands behind the high-quality manufacturing and excellent craftsmanship of their products. In our experience, if well cared for, their jackets will last for years and many adventures to come. So, while expensive, we think if you're willing to splurge on this one, you won't be disappointed.

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